Race Week! (And My New Garmin Works!)

Back in 2008, the Life Time Fitness Triathlon was only my 5th ever triathlon, and my 2nd ever Olympic Distance Triathlon. Here are some post-race numbers as quoted from my 2008 LTF Tri race report:

So here are the final numbers, along with how I placed:

• 0.93 Mile Swim: 31:56
• T1: 4:26
• 24.8 Mile Bike: 1:16:19
• T2: 2:16
• 6.2 Mile Run: 42:34
• Total: 2:37:33

Place: 26 out of 111 in Age Group
Overall Place: 231 out of 1148 Oly finishers

Highlights:
• PR in an Oly swim by over 10 minutes!
• Averaged 19.7 on the bike (fast for me!)
• Placed 5th in AG on the run (out of 111)!
• And 60th overall on the run (out of 1148)!

I’m really proud of those last 2 stats! As I mentioned before, I was hoping to run faster (sub 41 was my goal), but I guess I can’t complain about a run that was 5th in my AG and 60th overall! I’ll take it!

It's funny / inspiring (to me) to read how I felt about my performance at that race. Look at those numbers again AND what I say about them. That nearly 32 minute swim was a TEN MINUTE OLY SWIM PR. My first Oly swim was over 42 minutes. Yeah. Speedy. :)

And 19.7 mph average on the bike was the fastest I had ever posted in a race before.

Wow. I've come a long way.

But this year, my "multisport speed" has slowed down (at least over the distance of an Oly Tri - there's still a little speed there for shorter races). I've regressed a bit back towards 2008.


RACE GOALS / RACE PLANS FOR SATURDAY'S LTF TRIATHLON:

SWIM: "Treat it like you did at Trinona - take it easy and just get through it."
This will be my 7th Olympic Distance Tri, and it will be my first "wetsuit-less" Oly since my FIRST 42 minute Oly swim back in 2006. So I'm hoping I can break 29 without a wetsuit. Who knows.

BIKE: "Don't wipeout like last year at this race, and just push a LITTLE."
How much I push on the bike will probably be a "game day" decision. I may have bonked so hard at Trinona because of that MAJOR climb on the bike - that really trashed my everyone's legs. I had a rough run after that, and I don't know how much of that was the heat (my car said it was 91 degrees 30 minutes after I finished), my tired legs from that climb, or my general lack of endurance (but I HAD just ran a 1:20 half marathon the month before). So if I feel like really testing myself this weekend, I'll push and go nuts on the bike. If I feel like I don't want to bonk, I might hold back on the bike. This race is just for fun, so I'm not too concerned with not giving it a full 110%. I wonder if I can break the 1:16:19 bike split that I posted in 2008... that'll be hard with my minimal training lately...

RUN: "Don't bonk as hard as you did at Trinona."
Yep. That's my goal. I'd really like to break my 42:34 split from 4 year ago. I'm in GREAT "running shape," but not good "triathlon shape." Like I've already said, I just ran a hilly 1:20 half marathon (6:10 / mile), but my Oly tri shortly after that had a 10K run split of 44:03 (7:06 / mile). That makes me feel quite unsure about what I can do this weekend. I'd LOVE to break 40, but I'll settle for breaking 42:34 (my time 4 years ago at this race).

OVERALL: "Don't bonk so hard that you want to die, but see if you can break your 2:37:33 finishing time from 4 years ago... That's TOTALLY in reach."
Yep, that's it. Don't bonk, but shoot for a "race PR." I just posted 2:37:30 at Trinona with that INSANE bike climb (on a hot day), and posting that exact time would be a 3 second PR on this course for me (even though my Oly PR is 2:15 and I've done 3 Olys in 2:23:xx or faster). Heck, on a good day I might be close to 2:30:00. (But I could bonk my way to 2:40+ too...)

Darn right, River Road. We own you.

Oh, and after 4 days (but that was over a weekend, so really it was 2 business days), Garmin fixed my problem with my OS and their wireless transmitter. (Click that link to see my first Garmin post from last weekend.) They sent me their old software that works on my OS! Thanks Garmin!

Here's my first out-and-back "Garmin-ed" run (that's an adjective, right?) with Henry from this weekend. We did 3 easy miles, 4 miles a bit harder, and then 3 cool-down miles:

(Notice that Henry and I were technically breaking the 10 mph speed limit on the trails a couple of times...)

It has a "multi-sport" function where it knows you'll do "swim, transition, bike, transition, run" each time you hit the lap button, so I think I'll try it out this weekend at the race! How cool is that! Thanks for an awesome Father's Day present, Henry!! :)